Piper Kerman and Ginger Thompson to Talk 'THE WAR ON DRUGS' at Brooklyn Museum

The Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art announces its upcoming event, "The War on Drugs: On-Screen and Off," taking place on Saturday, September 10th from 2-4p.m. at the Brooklyn Museum.

The program features a dialogue between Piper Kerman -activist and author of The New York Times best selling memoir, Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison- and ProPublica senior reporter Ginger Thompson, whose work has exposed some of the secret roles Washington has played in the global drug war.

Kerman's personal experience with the U.S. prison system and Thompson's years of covering drug cartels worldwide propels the conversation as the two explore how the drug war, both at home and abroad, fosters the incarceration of low-level offenders and exacerbates gaping racial disparities, and the media's approach to these issues.

The discussion between Kerman and Thompson kicks off this season's "States of Denial: The Illegal Incarceration of Women, Children and People of Color," an ongoing series of public programs. Other upcoming events in the series include:

• Inside/Outside Prison Walls: Children and Families September 15, 7p.m.

Jill Becker, board member of Rehabilitation Through the Arts, moderates a panel of arts professionals who use film, theater, literature, and television to empower and heal families and children of currently and formerly incarcerated people. The panelists include Nora Raleigh Baskin (author of Ruby on the Outside), Jeanette Betancourt (Senior Vice President for U.S. Social Impact, Sesame Workshop), Jeremy Robins (2016 Rauschenberg Foundation Artist as Activist Fellow and a documentary filmmaker whose work includes Echoes of Incarceration), and Katherine Vockins (founder and Executive Director, Rehabilitation Through the Arts).

• Children, Not Criminals: Rethinking School Discipline September 24, 2:00 p.m.

With school suspensions and in-school arrests representing the primary pathways to the criminal justice system for young women and men of color, it's increasingly clear that non-punitive disciplinary alternatives are essential for social and racial justice in our schools and communities. Hear from national and local advocates and practitioners about the school-to-prison pipeline and learn about their innovative alternatives to combat this crisis. Panelists include Fania Davis, a leading national voice on restorative justice and co-founder and Executive Director of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY); Monique Morris, co-founder of the National Black Women's Justice Institute and author of Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools; and Ashley Ellis, Restorative Justice Coordinator, Good Shepherd Services. Moderated by Cecilia Clarke, President, Brooklyn Community Foundation.

The States of Denial program is presented by the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center of Feminist Art, which launches its 10th anniversary celebration in October 2016 with A Year of Yes: Reimagining Feminism at the Brooklyn Museum. For more information, go to www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/about.

The Elizabeth A. Sackler Center is a nexus for feminist art, theory, and activism. It is the permanent home of The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago, its Feminist Art and Herstory galleries display critically acclaimed exhibitions, and its Forum is a venue for lectures and a platform of advocacy for women's issues. In 2012, the Sackler Center inaugurated the Sackler Center First Awards to honor women who have broken gender barriers and have made outstanding contributions in their respective fields. In the spring of 2014, the Sackler Center began its ongoing public program series, "States of Denial: The Illegal Incarceration of Women, Children, and People of Color."